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Noooo, he isn't. I was talking to the AUS head office yesterday and she laughed and laughed. He has two children (which doesn't preclude him from being gay, I know, but, he's not).

Although, I really couldn't care who he 'enjoys spending time with'. So long as he keeps producing programmes.

Quote:

I don't believe the test goes direct to him. I believe he has trained several people in each country. I was thinking the same as you, and I still do think about this man who has this amazing program.

Nope, they all do go to him. Mind you, I don't think he writes them all, but he certainly absolutely looks over the blood test and medical history of each person.

My belief is, and this is just MY theory (it may be wrong) that he checks every one and then passes them off to a trained team to write the actual programmes. I do know that if someone is unsuitable for the programme through their medical history, the clinic gets an email from Dr C letting them know that.

Still, and in any case, WHO CARES!

I gotta tellya, the difference this programme has made in my life is unbelieveable, and I wouldn't care if it was written by a candlemaker in Zambia. It works, that's what counts to me. I think obsessing over who and where and why is just trying to give yourself an excuse as to why not to join or not to follow it properly.

I agree - who cares if he is a
doctor of medicine
or
a witch doctor
or
a chicken doctor
or
a monkey doctor
or
a motor mechanic
or
a tree surgeon
or
a heart specialist
or
Doctor Who

the plan works and works well -

I can prove and vouch for the fact that
its genuine with out a doubt
my health is 100 % after been about 40% at start
I am not sick or incapacitated because of the plan
I have not grown an extra limb or two from it
I have a new body without gut and its now very flexible
I defiantly never got ripped off or lost money

The cost is way lower than
a starting fee for lots of other deit plans
the fee is less than I would have paid for a whole range of food stuffs on other plans.
I have not walked the soles out of a pair or two pairs of joggers.

How many people check to see the qualifications of any one that they use for services in anything they do !!!!
Have you ever checked your motor mechanics certificate or training or every time we fly in a plane do we - check the pilots license to see if he is a pilot.

As you say - stop looking for excuses not to do it and get your life on track .......... it works ...... with out a doubt !

This has been fascinating reading!!
I have done the program before, and yes I lost weight, about 18kg which was great!! Other than falling off the wagon due to family upheaval (story on my diary), there were no issues with the program.

Ok it was hard - but after all this time of eating the wrong things and lots of them, I kinda thought it's time to 'repent'!!!

It's all good food - no junk food, no dreaded shakes (urgh! what the hell is in those?!), no surgery, no dodgy prepackaged rubbish. You buy it, cook it and eat it - it's all about gaining control over your eating habits.

As for whether this is a doctor diet or not - what about all those strange 'celebrity' diets they keep raving about in the mags?? Or that bizarre Lemon Detox diet - a friend tried that for 1 day and took her a week to get her body back to normal (let alone the headaches!!). How many doctors are involved with that??

I say if you are up for a challenge, Karel, go for it!!!! You will be surprised!!

The stored fat reserves are the last thing that is used up by the body for energy - the reason being, that if there is a famine, this process makes you survive longer.

So in effect what are you left with by the time you have finished your diet? You are left with the same amount of fat and less lean muscle tissue which in effect means your metabolic rate is slower, i.e., you now need less calories than before, say you needed 2000 calories before dieting, you now only require 1200 calories - and eating more than that per day and you will pick up weight if you don't stick to the maintenance diet for the rest of your life. And so the yo-yo effect comes into existence: You pick up weight because your metabolic rate has slowed down - so you diet again and lose more lean muscle tissue and then your body requires even less calories per day - say around 1000 a day now - and that's the reason why dieting doesn't work. What they fail to tell you is that because muscle weighs twice as much as fat - it's the reason for the drastic weight loss, cos if you were truly losing fat the scale would register much less.

The only thing that works is for people to follow a combination of cardio-vascular and resitance training exercises whereby you build more muscle and in turn the muscle burns fat. Gaining even a small portion of muscles can speed up your metabolism (even while you're idle) by up to 20%. A good cardio-resistance workout requires that you follow a non-restricted calorie diet, incorporating all the food groups so that you can supply your muscles with the fuel they need.

During dieting (any diet) one loses up to 30 - 40% of your lean muscle tissue - that's a lot and slows down your metabolism considerably.

What most diet clubs and those proponents of fad diets don't tell you is that exercise automatically lowers one high blood pressure, does away with type 2 diabetes, and also lowers your cholesterol and it has the added bonus of building lean muscle tissue. I dare anyone to consult a personal trainer in this respect, as well as google the words "dieting and lean muscle tissue" - they will all agree with what I've said here. Man was created not to be idle and follow a soft lifestyle. Going on a diet (any diet) is not the long-term solution - believe me, I've been on many and have suffered the consequences of losing lean muscle tissue - it's just not worth it.

I eat junk food/fast food now and again as well - it's no train smash, as I simply just work it off in the gym. I think an hour a day of physical exercise is nothing compared to daily mental torture that a diet involves - like weighing one's food, dreaming about pizza or not being able to socialize properly because everybody thinks you're a wet blanket because you aren't allowed to have a glass of wine or eat with them.

In a nutshell, if fat people could get off their rear ends and exercise the dieting industry wouldn't be booming! These people prey on overweight peoples' desperation, some just use better psychological techniques and marketing than others. From what I can see Cohen’s offers an “Agony Aunty” forum whereby everyone can feel “they’re not alone”, where everyone encourages one another. There are other diets with the same techniques – and they also work – so it’s not the actual diet, but the fact that they fill the psychological need during dieting, which most diets don’t do. But this doesn’t work for all people though.

The question I'd like to ask is - I don't hear any positive stories from ex Cohen dieters, especially over the long-term - that they've managed to keep all that weight off. After all, the success of a diet isn't losing x amount of weight over a short period of time, the success lies in keeping that weight off over the long-term - and by long-term I mean more than a year - preferably 10 to 20 years. Do you know of anyone who has done that?

There is nothing wrong in trying to found out a doctor's credentials - if they're above board, after all there are many quacks out there who are just after a quick buck.

By the way, I've been following a cardio-resistance exercise program at my local gym for a week now and I can already see a huge difference in my body - stomach is flatter, more muscle emphasis in my legs - and I eat what I like - pizza, wholewheat bread, butter, eggs, bacon - the only thing I won't touch is refined carbohydrates - that I only eat now and again when eating junk food like hamburgers, fries, etc.

haha .... well I for one have to disagree and I am sure SassyK will too.

I for one have spent over 14 years at the gym, the last 4 for at LEAST an Hour a day cardio and resistance training - was I fit - hell yes. Did I lose weight??? no not overly - only 17kg in 4 years. Why? Because I had severe insulin resistance. Only by following the prescribed quantities on Cohens could my body learn to burn effectively the stored fat I had on my frame.

I had my BMR ( Base metabolic rate) taken at the start of my exercise program - about 3 months in - it was 1760. I had the test again when I reached refeed - it was 2030. So in effect my Base Metabolic Rate went up on Cohens, even though I never exercised at all.

I love how people who have never tried something feel the need to disparage it. I guess we have all come across the person in the crowd who 'knows better than Dr Cohen how to fix all fat people' ... ya know ... until you have walked in my shoes with my disorders and my history ..... don't tell me exercise is my answer ... I didn't work for me ..... this did.

Connie

__________________

Finished July 2008 - Maintaining

"If you think you can, or you think you can't you're right! "- Henry Ford

i hope this comment doesnt offend anyone at all but all i want to say is goldie i do agree with you, yes im on this diet only because i had no willpower at all to go back to my workout classes. how can you have a diet without exercise is what i dont understand esp when i signed up to cohens, i believe this is such a hit diet because its what every overweight person wants to hear "a diet where you dont have to exercise" connie i can see that we both share the same medical issues and i did it the hard way, for 3 months i watched what i ate and i did a 60 min hardcore fitness class 3 times a week in that 3 mths i lost 12 kgs which i kept off for years. maybe you were just doing the wrong things or even you werent watching what you were eating when you were doing it.

yes with this diet i can see you lose weight, iv just reached my 4 week mark and lost 7.5kgs but i know if i was exercising it would just fall off. all i dont understand in this diet is why we are so restricted on veg, im not talking about carbohydrates but other veges that arnt on the list. to me this isnt a lifestyle change, this isnt a diet this is a fasting program.

once again i dont want to offend anyone.
but im on the diet so i think i can speak.

Well polka dots ... I am 40 years old ... and my Doctor himself told me that there was nothing more they could offer me and maybe I should just be happy to stay at 89 kg where I was.

As for not watching what I was eating ... I was under the care of an endocrinologist from RPA's metabolism and obesity clinic and had been on an 800 - 1000 calorie a day plan for 3 years ... Had been put on reductil (which had the opposite effect on me and made my metabolism slow) and had been suggested replacing three meals a day with shakes ( hardly a healthy way to do this). Was told my fitness was extraordinary for my size, but no solution was offered ... but hey ... I know some people always know better than the specialists.

I agree there are people who have lived on the wrong foods for years and want a magic panacea for their problem ... but they exist on every diet, and they will ultimately fail on every diet, deviate, make excuses, not follow the programs ... blame the diet, blame the socialising, blame anyone but who is to blame .... themselves! My diet as a child and the obesity in my teen years lead to me developing PCOS.

From the day I was diagnosed with PCOS I did everything I was told to do ... unconditionally... I have never yoyo dieted, I have steadily gone up ... and steadily come down ..... every plateau I hit I stayed at ... didn't go back up ... just sat there.

Ohh and incidently after all that exercise ... thanks to PCOS .. Cholesterol .. still high...risk of type 2 diabetes .. exceptionally high .... yet now ... no risk and low cholesterol and no insulin resistance ....

You cannot paint every person with the same brush ... if the forum was the only key to success then I would have succeeded many years ago thanks to the PCOS weight loss forum, or the calorie king forum ... or even the programming or scrapbooking forums I am a member off hell they give me support as well. This question was whether Dr Cohen not being a registered doctor here in Australia meant the diet wasn't worth trying ..... we all posted our opinion ...

For you to come in here and tell me that the only reason I did not lose weight from being at the gym was because I was screwing up ... quite frankly as you do have PCOS I would think that you at least would understand and know that the 'burn more than you eat equation' does not work with Insulin resistance. I am so sick of well meqaning people for the last 7 years telling me I am cheating in some unforseen way that is causing my diet to fail ...... My doctors did not think so ... the professor did not think so ..... the battery of tests that they put me through did not point to a cheat ..... But hey ... I am sure that the years of education and experience of these people are not as informed as the opinion of someone who does not beleive it can be so ......

End of discussion from me ....

Connie

__________________

Finished July 2008 - Maintaining

"If you think you can, or you think you can't you're right! "- Henry Ford

Do you intend to join and do a Cohens program or are you just a looker ?

What? Me join the Cohen diet and lose my lean muscle tissue? Not a chance - as I stated in my post - I'm doing a cardio-vascular and resistance exercise programme and my weight has already dropped and my stomach is flatter. Surely my heading that diets in general don't work should have given you my stance.

I guess this is just another forum where you state all the pro's and sweep the cons under the carpet. Show me some honest evidence of long-term weight loss on this diet, and tell my why Dr Cohen hasn't published his "research" results so the experts can gauge it? He can't, can he?

Quote:

"a diet where you dont have to exercise"

Polka dots - you're soooo right, I have a friend who is currently on this diet and the reason why he went on it - NO EXERCISE! That proves my point - if overweight people exercised daily they wouldn't have a problem.

Besides, one's diet should consist of 55% carbohydrates - as they are fuel for your muscles, and when I say carbohydrates I mean complex carbs like brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholewheat bread - unrefined carbs. Have you ever noticed how much refined carbs overweight people eat? It's because they give you an immediate lift - spike in your blood glucose level - but you cannot maintain it - in about 30 minutes you come crashing down and feel tired and sleepy - and you get the urge to eat again - this leads to insulin resistance and eventually Type 2 diabetes. It's a known fact that exercise takes away insulin resistance to a certain degreee and eating the right foods takes it away totally. So you have to exercise and eat the right foods. People who exercise need more calories coz if you put them on a calorie restricted diet they won't have the power to do those exercises - that's when the body will start breaking down the muscle for energy.

Quote:

I love how people who have never tried something feel the need to disparage it. I guess we have all come across the person in the crowd who 'knows better than Dr Cohen how to fix all fat people' ... ya know ... until you have walked in my shoes with my disorders and my history ..... don't tell me exercise is my answer ... I didn't work for me ..... this did.

A person doesn't have to eat or drink rat poison to know it's bad for you - common sense dictates not to try it. I've been on countless diets, including high protein diets like the Dr. Atkins diet, which I believe the Cohen diet mimics - except he restricts you calories, depending on how overweight one is. Did the Atkins diet work? Hell no, but I did get fatter as the years went on after trying it.

Quote:

don't tell me exercise is my answer ... I didn't work for me ..... this did.

That's unfortunately how the majority of overweight people think - they don't want to do the thing that actually works over the long run. So Dr Cohen it is.

Goldie, for me, this diet works. My blood tests show high cholesterol is now well into the normal range, glucose intolerance is no longer a threat, blood pressure is no longer heading into the danger zone. For the first time in my life (I'm 61) I believe I can get to my right weight and remain there. There is absolutely no doubt that large quantities of fat have gone from my body -- the rolls are no longer there for me to pick up. It was clear that it was disappearing almost from the start.

I started this diet as skeptical as anyone about Dr Cohen, was doing it because my doctor advised me to. Seven months in I am convinced that Dr Cohen has hit on a formula that works, and that overcomes most of the obstacles that you have presented.

I find the forum enormously helpful, but I would still be here without it. This forum has nothing whatever to do with the clinics or Dr Cohen, and only a small percentage of Cohen people belong to it.

All of the consultants at my clinic lost many, many kilos and have kept it off for several years.

The reasons for most women gaining weight are somewhat similar to the reasons behind bulimia and anorexia. Often they are also related to the problems women have with self confidence and self esteem.

Your last post seems to indicate that you have completely ignored everything that Connie has said.

AJ

__________________

Started 11/1/08. Lowest weight reached 63.8 kgs on 10/11/08 and 40 kgs down. Thank you Dr Cohen.
Back again to do it all over again, starting from exactly the same weight as last time.
My health is not good and my doctor is predicting all sorts of nasty things if I don't lose weight.
What else do I do? I help people make money and I help people save money. Please take a look at http://www.acnlinks.clancie.com.au/

Back again for the support. Still think the diet and the forum are the best ever, but too old to do it again. Now losing again slowly on maintenance diet. Ticker shows next intermediate goal only (5 kilos).

So post a picture and show us what you have to loose - how much weight do you need shed at the Gym.

I have 20kg of fat to lose - have already lost 10kg fat. I don't own a scale - I go by how my cloths fit me - that gives a more accurate assessment cos muscle weighs more than fat, but it takes up less space. That's why going by the scale is wrong.

So you want to know how I know I've lost fat and not muscle - because at the gym they have a scale that weighs your body fat %.

It's obvious this is a Cohen diet forum and you don't want to hear the bad things. My question remains - you have lost a lot of fat, but can you keep it off over the long-term?

yeah ... cause I just said that I had been for 4 years and ya know what ... I was still fat ... Imagine that ... it didn't work for me or some others with PCOS ..... but obviously you meant more than 1-2 hours a day ...... on a 800-1000 calorie .. 55% carbohydrate diet ......

by the way I also have a scale that weighs body fat % and mine is at 19- 20% and has been since I reached goal when I started Cohens it was around 46.5%... BUT ... scales as a body fat measure are in themselves innacurate as they measure using electrical impedence and can be influenced by things such as humidity and unexpelled bowel movements. The only true measure of body fat is a suspended water diplacement test done in a pool using a harnessed weight measure. So if you are truly concerned about accurate losing of body fat you better pop over to Sydney Uni every friday for a test.

Ohh and

Quote:

I've been on countless diets

You ... the woman with all the answers???? surely not ... I mean .. you know they don't work so why try them .....maybe because they gave you hope ?? .. and if someone had of come along and told you they knew the ones that did work for you were wrong?? You would have done em anyway wouldn't you.

OK Goldie want the phone number of my gym, my doctor ??? wanna call me a liar again ??? Wanna tell me that while I was doing exactly what you recommended I must be lying about it because it didn't work for me .. save it sweetheart I have heard it all before .. and like I said I have never yoyo dieted ... not like you .. so I guess .. maybe I learn from my experiences but here you are trying to ride a different horse to lose the same 20kg ..... who's the fool again???

Connie

__________________

Finished July 2008 - Maintaining

"If you think you can, or you think you can't you're right! "- Henry Ford

I did at least an hour a day and blew out to 80 kg over weight or maybe 90 at some stages but still walked 10 ks a day for years and years and every day put on weight - and only ate meat and home grown vegetables that I grew in my garden - no junk food - no grog - not much else but lots of good plain food and still put on weight - like 80 - 90 kgs !!!!!!!

But that's all gone and thanks to Dr Cohen's diet plan - that I choose to do and my blood results for 36 different things is now 100% normal - where previously it was way out in the red zone ------ so it works for me and I don't really care if you want go to the gym or you want sleep all day - it worked for me and is still working and I have a mate that did the program 8 years ago and he is still lean and strong and has not put the weight on.

You go to the Gym Goldie - and don't forget to show us your results - good on you mate if it works for you - stick with it and good luck and show us your results in pictures and I'll be the first to congratulate you for your efforts.

yeah ... cause I just said that I had been for 4 years and ya know what ... I was still fat ... Imagine that ...

I know you said that - but is it true? Seriously, I can't see a person going for 4 years and remaining fat, unless they're actually not doing it properly and upping their pulse rate. You must be the first person I know that's been to gym for 4 years and come out unscathed - imagine that? Wow, I'd say it's a case for the Guinness Book of Records.

Overweight people have a lot of excuses like:

My fat is caused by hormones.
Gym doesn't work or gym doesn't work for me (I"m unque).
I'm insulin resistant.
Obesity is a disease, I inherited it from my great gramma.

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

It's best just to face reality and say obesity is caused by eating too much, as well as the wrong foods and lack of exercise. Period. That's the truth of the matter.

Quote:

and only ate meat and home grown vegetables that I grew in my garden

And isn't that what you're eating on the Cohen diet now - a protein and vegetables, like chicken and vegetables, meat and vegetables, fish and vegetables?

And in case you think I'm being nasty - I'm not as I wish you well and hope for your sake that you can maintain your weight loss - that applies to everyone on this forum. As far as I'm concerned, I'm through with ALL diets, I like my lean muscle tissue too much to bid it farewell because it does a lot for me, like keep me thin, especially when I"m idle and the last thing I want to be concerned about is the preparation of my food, where it becomes painful or a chore - IMO preparing food and thinking about it takes up a tiny portion of my day - I think about what I feel like eating, then I eat it and that's it - it isn't a major operation for me.

It's obvious this is a Cohen diet forum and you don't want to hear the bad things

I might take some notice if I thought the person presenting the views was unbiased and willing to listen to our side of the argument. I spent a lot of years in research, I am willing to listen to a contrary argument. I already knew most of the arguments against diet that you have presented through reading over many years.

We know this works for us.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you are trying to achieve by posting on this forum.

AJ

__________________

Started 11/1/08. Lowest weight reached 63.8 kgs on 10/11/08 and 40 kgs down. Thank you Dr Cohen.
Back again to do it all over again, starting from exactly the same weight as last time.
My health is not good and my doctor is predicting all sorts of nasty things if I don't lose weight.
What else do I do? I help people make money and I help people save money. Please take a look at http://www.acnlinks.clancie.com.au/

Back again for the support. Still think the diet and the forum are the best ever, but too old to do it again. Now losing again slowly on maintenance diet. Ticker shows next intermediate goal only (5 kilos).

Yes it's true ..... and I did lose ... 19kg in 4 years ... like I said wanna phone my Gym ...I could give you their email address or the web site.. every receptionist and instructor there knows me .. saw me there every day ......

My target pulse rate was reached... I trained with a personal trainer 3 days a week for the last 3 months. I trained til I puked some times ....
I never said I didn't lose anything ... I lost 19kg in 4 years.

I also never made excuses ... I tried to find solutions ... I tried everything offered to me by every expert out there.... but maybe I am not as perfect as you ... after all you have kept your weight off for years ... ohh wait no you haven't have you???

I have stated below my obesity caused the insulin resistance... I am under no illusions as to inheriting obesity ... you inherit the eating habits and they cause the obesity ... children learn what they live after all ... interestingly all my three adult children are slim and fit ... My diet as a child was not good .... my diet as a teenager was the same ... I grew bigger and bigger .... I lost babies .... I got alopecia and other symptoms ... I was diagnosed .... I have researched it, been on medications to combat it, been a lab rat for it .....I know you have no understanding of insulin resistance hell it's probably a made up thing as far as you are concerned. It doesn't change the fact that it is a factor in not losing weight for overweight people and women with PCOS.

As for eating the wrong foods ... I guess that is the one thing we agree on ... cause when I swapped my 800cals of high carb for 800cals of Dr Cohens I lost a Kilo a week ..... Not a huge amount of water retention weight or ridiculous amounts all the way through .. a steady 1kg a week.

Now I really have to stop playing ... it's time for bed and as much as I enjoy a good tussle with a zealot as much as the next guy ... must get that HGH a moving after pump tonight.

Ohh and there are people on cohens who exercise to an intense level all the way through with no ill effects ... and come out the other end looking muscular.. for me a walk every day was enough during the program and now I am getting my muscle tone back ... personal choice I guess ... that's why we live in a democracy.

Connie

__________________

Finished July 2008 - Maintaining

"If you think you can, or you think you can't you're right! "- Henry Ford

Likewise it's always nice to talk to someone who is choosy in what they actually quote and disagree on and who admits their own failures while disparaging others for theirs.

Must be nice to be so perfectly in possession of all the diet answers and yet still need to lose weight ... sort of like knowing the answer to quantum theory but still needing to have a push / pull sign on the door I guess.

Shall we make that appointment for in a year and five and ten and we can see if I have succeeded in keeping mine off and if you have also??

**jerks knees again ... changes to the hokey pokey .. **

Connie

__________________

Finished July 2008 - Maintaining

"If you think you can, or you think you can't you're right! "- Henry Ford